bullock



3 SheetsSheet 1.

W. BULLOCK. AU'IOMATIO'PAPER EEEDEE.

No, 21,591. Patented Sept. 21, 1858.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2.-

W. BULLOCK. AUTOMATIC PAPER FEEDER.

No. 21,591. Patented Sept. 21, 1858.

3 Sheets-Sheet 3. W. BULLOCK. AUTOMATIC PAPER FEEDER.

Patented Sept. 21, 1858.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM BULLOCK, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO GEO. V. TAYLOR, OFSAME PLACE.

AUTOMATIC PAPER-FEEDER. FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification of Letters Patent'No. 21,591, dated September 2 1, 1858.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, lVILLIAM BULLOCK, of Newark, in the county of Essexand State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Apparatus for Feeding Paper to Printing-Presses; and .Ido hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of my said invention, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 represents a view inperspective of my automatic feeder connected with the cylinder of aprinting press; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, and Fig. 8 is avertical longitudinal section of the machine through the central vacuumcylinder.

Various machines have heretofore been devised for the purpose of feedingsheets of paper to printing presses, but in these machines so far as myknowledge extends, the sheets have been operated upon by mechanism whosemovement when in operation bears a definite relation to the movements ofthe press to which the apparatus has been applied. These machines havethus far proved defective in practice for the reason in my opinion thatit has been necessary to lay the pile of paper upon them with very greataccuracy to obtain a practically good register, and that sheets of paperof different qualities or dampened to a greater or less extent adhere toeach other with greater or less force, and therefore require differentamounts of movement or force in the feeding apparatus to feed them tothe press.

My invention is designed to obviate the defects of preceding machines inthese respects and it consists first, in operating the members of themachine which effect the feeding of the sheet of paper in such mannerthat the amount of movement developed by them in feeding successivesheets bears no fixed relation to that of the parts of the printingpress proper, and that they have a sufficient capacity to feed asheet ofpaper in less time than is allowed for that purpose by the movement ofthe press.

The second part of my invention consists inconstructing and operatingthe feed mechanism in such manner that the amount of motion of themembers which effect the movement of the sheet is regulated andcontrolled by the position of the sheet; so that when the sheet has beenmoved to its proper position the members aforesaid are no longerpermitted to act upon it.

The third part of my invention consists in intermitting the operation ofthe feeding apparatus upon the paper while the sheet is being drawn intothe press, although the members of the feeding apparatus still continueto move at a regular speed.

The fourth part of my invention consists in moving the pile of paper, soas to present the top sheet to the members which efiect the feeding, bya mechanism whose operation upon the pile is controlled by the positionof the pile so that when the pile occupies its proper position themechanism is not permitted to act upon it. There are also various novelcombinations of mechanical elements in my machine whose nature andoperation will more fully hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings the paper feeding apparatus is shown asused in connection with the cylinder, A, of a printing press; the otherportions of the press being omitted to avoid unnecessary complexity inthe drawings. The feeding apparatus is supported by a frame whichextends above the upper surface of the cylinder A, and is suitablysupported upon the frame of the press. The press cylinder is constructedin the usual manner, and is fitted with the usual finger shaft 2, andfingers y, by which the edge of the paper presented to it is seized, andby the rotation of the cylinder drawn thereupon. The feed table C, uponwhich the pile of paper B is laid, is inclined; it is connected with anendless apron D that runs upon rollers a, a, and is otherwise suitablysupported to sustain the weight of the paper.

The shaft of one of the "apron rollers a, has a ratchet wheel E securedto it which is operated by a finger 5, whose ofiice is to turn theratchet wheel and the roller, and thus propel the feed table C with thepaper lying thereon toward the cylinder A. The feed table is surmountedby a roller F, whose ofiice is to press lightly upon the sheets and thuskeep them in their proper position.

The finger b, which operates the ratchet wheel, depends from an arm fthat is secured to the extremity of a rock shaft 0. This finger rockshaft crosses the frame of the feed apparatus, and is fitted at aboutits middle with a second arm f, by which the finger rock shaft can berocked to cause the finger to move the ratchet wheel. The extremity ofthe finger rock shaft arm f, bears upon a toe cl, which is secured to asecond rock shaft 6. This latter rock shaft also extends across theframe of the apparatus and is fitted at its extremity with an arm 9,which is connected by a link It, with the upper extremity of a lever G.The lever is pivoted to the frame and its lower extremlty is furnishedwith a friction Wheel j, that bears against the periphery of a'cam Hsecured to the cylinder A; so that as the latter revolves, the lever Gis caused to oscillate, and rock the rock shaft 6, whose toe d actingupon the arm f, alternately raises and lowers the latter, and elfectsthe rocking of the rock shaft 0, by which the finger b, is caused toactuate the ratchet wheel E. Under the operation of the mechanism thusdescribed alone, the finger would partially turn the ratchet wheel andits roller at each revolution of the press cylinder A, and would thuspropel the feed table and the paper thereon forward faster than isnecessary or desirable. In order therefore to control and regulate thisaction of the finger on its ratchet wheel,

the arm 7 of the finger rock shaft 0 is connected with the piston, I, ofa single acting air cylinder, J that is mounted in an inverted positionupon the upper part of the frame of the apparatus. This piston is packedso as to move airtight in the barrel of the air cylinder, and as thelink that connects the piston with the arm f is inflexible, the pistonis raised whenever this arm is raised by the toe (Z. The piston issurmounted by a coiled spring T which tends to depress it as often asthe rocking toe, (Z, permits the arm 7" to descend. By this movement ofthe piston air is alternately drawn into and expelled from the aircylinder J, and so long as the free passage of the air to and from theair cylinder is not prevented, the reciprocating movements or strokes ofthe piston will correspond in number with the oscillations of the rockshaft 6, and the finger I) will be moved in a corresponding degree. Ifhowever the admission of the air to the upper part of the air cylinderbe shut off the piston can not redescend, because the pressure of theatmosphere upon its lower side holds it up against the force of thespring. Hence, under such a circum stance, the arm f will no longerdescend with the toe d, and the movement of the finger b, will beintermitted, although the toe cl continues to vibrate, until air isagain permitted to enter above the piston. The

exclusion of air from the air cylinder thus stops the movement of thefeed table, and its free admission permits the feed table to be movedforward; hence by controlling the admission of air to the cylinder themove ment of the feed table is controlled in a corresponding manner.

In my apparatus the paper itself 'is made to control this admission ofairto the air cylinder by the following arrangement. The head of the aircylinder J is closed, and is connected by a pipe is with a nozzle L,which extends over the inclined pile of paper B on the feed table, andis in such a position with respect to the other parts of the machinethat when the pile of paper is in its proper position for being fed itsupper sheet bears against the end of the nozzle, and, by pre-' ventingthe free entrance of air through it to the air cylinder, stops thedescent of the piston and the movement of the finger Z) and ratchetwheel E. When the nozzle is thus closed the feed table with the pile ofpaper thereon remains stationary until a sufficient number of sheetshave been fed to the press to permit air to enter freely into the nozzleand thence into the cylinder; then the piston descends sufficiently toenable the finger b to move back the space of a ratchet tooth, and onmoving forward to turn the ratchet wheel and propel the surface of thepile again toward the nozzle. When the paper is in contact with thenozzle the free exit of air from the air cylinder is prevented by thepresence of the paper beneath the nozzle,

hence it is necessary to provide a means for this air to escape whilethe piston is moved upward; this is effected by forming an orifice inthe upper .part of the air cylinder and closing it by a spring valve 6which permits the imprisoned air to escape and prevents its rentrance.

The feeding of the paper, sheet by sheet, from the pile to the positionwhere the fingers of the cylinder grip its forward edge, is eifected byautomatic hands, K, K, which are moved alternately in the direction inwhich the sheet is to be moved and alternately in the opposite directionthereto.

These hands are pivoted to the lower ex revolution permits the hands K,K, to bear upon the sheet when they are moved toward the cylinder A; asthey approach the end of their stroke in this direction the cranks intheir revolution bear against the upper ends of the slots in the arms,and, raising them, lift the hands from the sheet upon which they havebeen pressing. As the cranks then pass through the upper half of theirrevolution they carry the arms and their hands backward over the sheets,and drop them again, to permit the hands to press upon the paper whilethe cranks are traversing the lower half of their revolution, and aremoving the hands toward the press cylinder A. As before stated each handis pivoted to its corresponding arm; that extremity of each hand whichis nearest the cylinder is also connected with its respective arm by aspring Z which causes the opposite, or what may be termed the finger endof the hand, to bear upon the sheet with a yielding pressure. Thecrankshaft 1, which passes transversely across the frame of theapparatus, is fitted with a pulley to which in this instance motion isimparted from a counter shaft P by means of a cord, and the countershaftis driven in a corresponding manner from the cylinder A. The severalpulleys upon the shafts are of such relative diameters that the crankshaft revolves many times faster than the cylinder A. Therefore, as butone sheet has to be fed for each revolution of the cylinder, thecapacity of the hands for feeding the paper is very much greater than isactually required for the purpose; and if the hands were permitted toact upon the paper the whole time allowed by the revolution of the presscylinder, the paper would be pushed over the cylinder and out of themachine.

In order to control and regulate the action of the hands upon the papera pair of nozzles R, R, are projected over the cylinder, theirextremities being situated at the line to which the paper is to be fed.These nozzles are connected with the upper parts of the air cylinders NN by pipes we so that when the pistons descend under the actions oftheir respective springs the air enters through the nozzles R, R; andwhen these nozzles are closed, air can not enter the upper ends of thecylinders; in the latter case the pistons will be prevented fromdescending by the pressure of the atmosphere beneath them and will holdthe arms and hands in the raised positions to which they have beenlifted by the action of the cranks 0. In order to guide the paper fromthe table to the nozzles a pair of flap guides t, are secured to ashaft, 8, in such positions as to project immediately beneath thenozzles R, so as to direct the edge of the paper moved by the handsagainst the orifice of the nozzles. The guide shaft 8 is fitted with anarm by which it can be rocked so as to raise the extremities of theguides into close contact with the orifices of the nozzles, and thuslimit the movement of the paper, or to permit them to fall by theirweight and thus free the forward edge of the paper when the fingers ofthe press cylinder grip it. A slight recess is also cut in the end ofeach guide immediately beneath the orifice of its appropriate nozzle soas to permit the air to pass freely thereto. The operation of thecontrolling apparatus thus described is such that when the front edge ofthe paper arrives beneath the orifice of either nozzle it closes thatorifice, prevents the admission of air to the air cylinder above, andthus stops the descent of the hand upon the paper, which is thenpermitted to remain stationary until the fingers of the cylinder seizeit although the hand still continues to vibrate. If the front edge ofthe paper moves forward equally from end to end, both nozzles will beclosed simultaneously, and both hands will cease to act upon the paperat the same time. If however the uniform movement of the sheets beprevented by any accidental cause or if the paper be unevenly piled uponthe table so that its front edge moves diagonally forward, the handappropriate to the nozzle at which the sheet arrives first will be firstprevented from dropping, while the other hand still continues to actupon the paper. The sheet will then be turned upon the orifice of thenozzle as a center by the act-ion of the hand still operating, untilthis hand is prevented from dropping by the arrival of the edge of thesheet at its appropriate nozzle.

In the operation of the machine it is necessary that the sheet shouldnot be sucked into the orifice of the nozzles and should not be touchedby the hands while it is being drawn upon the cylinder by the fingers.Both of these objects are obtained by fitting stop cocks a into thepipes leading to the air cylinders N N. These stop cocks are operated byarms v n which are connected by rods n with a pair of arms 39 projectingfrom the rock shaft 6 previously mentioned. This shaft is caused to rockin one direction to close the stop cocks by the action of a spring S,which is connected with one of the arms 39, and the shaft is rocked inthe opposite direction to open the cocks by means of the cam H. The camH is set in such a position with respect to the finger shaft, a, of thepress cylinder that it permits the spring S to close the stop cocks,thus preventing the suction of the sheets into the orifices of thenozzles R, and at the same time preventing the entrance of air into. thecylinders N N, as soon as the fingers y are in the position to grip theforward edge of the sheet; and it permits the stock cocks to be keptclosed until the sheet has been entirely drawn upon the cylinder, thuspreventing the hands from dropping. When however the hinder edge of thesheet has passed the nozzles R, the cam acting upon the lever G, opensthe stop cocks and permits the hands to act freely upon the next sheet.As the rock shaft 0, which operates the cooks, moves just when the frontedge of the paper should be released by the guides t, its motion is madeuse of to eflect the dropping of the guides by securing an arm to to it,and con meeting this arm by a rod m, with an arm secured to the guideshaft 8. The air cylinders N, N, are fitted. with orifices and springvalves to permit the air imprisoned in the cylinders to escape, inthesame manner as described in reference to the central air cylinder J.

When the printing press to which this feeding apparatus is attached is"to be put in operation, the paper, previously dampened in the usualmanner, is laid upon the feed table B,.and the latter is moved forwardby turning the ratchet wheel E by hand until theuppermost sheet closesthe orifice of the nozzle L. The press is then put to work and theseveral parts of the feeding apparatus operate as hereinbeforedescribed. The hands operating upon the pile of paper propel the sheetsforward toward the press cylinder, the uppermost sheet being moveddirectly by the action of the hands upon it, while the sheets beneathare moved in a less degree by the contact with those above them, so thatwhen the uppermost sheet arrives at the proper position to be gripped bythe fingers of the press the next sheet is a short distance behind it,the third a less distance behind the second, and so on progressively tothe pile. As the press cylinder revolves its fingers seize the uppermostsheet, and as fast as one sheet is drawn into the press the next one ismoved by the hands to be drawn upon the press cylinder at the succeedingrevolution thereof.

The various parts of the feeding apparatus thus described may bemodified in various ways without affecting my invention, so long as itsdistinctive peculiarities are retained; my invention may also be appliedto platen printing presses, to ruling and calender machines, and toother purposes and in such cases may require modification to adapt it tothe work to be performed, a greater number of fingers may be employed iffound advisable. Fingers may also be added to operate at right angles tothose hereinbefore mentioned, for the purpose of giving a side registerto the sheets.

pacity for moving the sheet than is necessary for the purpose. V

2. I also claim controlling the operation of the hands or theirequivalents upon the sheets of paper by mechanism whose operation isdependent upon the position of the sheet being fed, so that the lengthof time during which thehands or their equivalents are permitted to actupon each sheet of paper does not bear any fixed relation to themovements of the other parts of the printing press.

3. I also claim intermitting the operation of the hands or theirequivalents upon the paper while the latter is being drawn into thepress by mechanism acting substantially as herein set forth.

4. I also claim effecting the progressive movement of the pile of paperby mechanism whose operation is dependent upon the position of the pilesubstantially as here in set forth. 1

5. I also claim the combination of the fiap guides and nozzles or theirequivalents for stopping the movement of the forward edge of the sheetand for releasing the same in the manner hereinbefore described.

6. I also claim moving sheets of paper by automatic rubbing hands ortheir equivalents constructed substantially as herein set forth.

7. I also claim operating the stop cocks of the air cylinder and theflap guides by a cam or its equivalent whose movement is coincident withor bears a fixed relation to the movement of the fingers which draw thepaper into the press.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name.

' WM. BULLOCK. Vitnesses:

MIoHAEL HARDY, W ILLIAM L. BENNEM.

